Fannie Mae Family Opportunity Mortgage

Mortgage Market is proud to offer Fannie Mae’s Family Opportunity Loan, which allows you to purchase a property for your parents if they cannot qualify on their own.

If you are interested in purchasing or refinancing a home in Florida, we may be able to help you save money on a buying or refinancing a second home.

Traditionally, buying a second residence would require an investment property mortgage, which can have higher interest rates, fees, with higher monthly payments. The Family Opportunity Loan allows you to buy a home as an owner occupied residence, even though you don’t plan to live in it.

That means, as a child of aging parents, you can provide housing for them and obtain the same rates, fees and lending flexibility as it you were buying your own home to live in.


Assisting your aging parents:

  • You must be able to document that your parents are unable to afford the mortgage.

  • You must qualify for both your home and the parents' home

  • Property must be occupied as the primary residence by the parents

  • Property location can be near you; it doesn’t have to be a certain distance away

  • You must provide a letter explaining the parents’ financial inability and their intent for occupying the home.

Top 3 Uses of the Family Opportunity Mortgage:

1. An Elderly Parent

Probably the most common reason to use the Family Opportunity Mortgage, the program allows you to purchase a property for an elderly parent who needs comfortable, safe, affordable housing but does not have the means to qualify for financing on their own. Through this program, you are able to purchase a property where your parent can live using both your own personal income and any available income that your parent has.

Even if a retired or elderly parent is living on retirement-account distributions, Social Security payments, or pension checks, they may not have enough money to qualify on their own. But this program allows you to use your income to help them enjoy a wonderful house during their retirement years.


2. A Disabled Child

This program brings the same basic benefits of buying a property for a parent and applies them to situations where people are buying a home for a disabled child. Many disabled adults, as well as caretakers or family members, receive some sort of assistance from state and federal governments. But these benefits may not be enough to qualify for a home.

Family Opportunity Mortgage, however, can help. To use this loan option for a disabled child, you will need to bring some specific information.

To get started, you’ll need proof of the child’s permanent disability, which will help verify that you are eligible for the program. Next, you will need to provide paystubs from the disabled child’s workplace, if the child has a job. Documentation of social security payments will also be required. All of this information will be used to demonstrate that the child cannot qualify for the home loan on their own.


3. A Child in College

You might assume that this program is specifically for people with either an elderly parent or a disabled child who can’t afford a home on their own. This is actually not true, as it can be used to purchase a property for a child in college.

College is getting more expensive every year, but it’s not just tuition. The basic cost of living, especially in dorms or a rental in a major college town, can be astronomical. That's why many parents, instead of paying rent for four or five years, choose to invest into a home for their child.

But for many parents, this means taking out an investment loan, which can have tighter requirements and higher interest rates. It’s far better to use the Family Opportunity Mortgage. To qualify for the Family Opportunity Mortgage, the child must be enrolled in college and the property must be a reasonable distance from the school. The child will not be an applicant, and their income, credit profile, and other factors do not come into play during qualification.